Two of the leaders of the international organized crime organization "Comancheros" arrested after 3 year long intelligence operation

Kartal1

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There is an important detail in the Cage Operation carried out by the Turkish Police against the Comanchero gang recently; "Thanks" to the two managers of the gang, hundreds of criminal organizations were collapsed in the Trojan Shield operation carried out in 16 countries under the leadership of the FBI in 2021.

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As the Turkish Minister of Internal Affairs @AliYerlikaya announced, the two leaders of the Comanchero gang, Hakan Ayık and Maximillian Rivkin... We first heard about these names, wanted worldwide for global drug trafficking and organized crime, in a major operation on June 8, 2021.

The whole world got to know about an encrypted phone during the Trojan Shield operation carried out by the FBI and law enforcement forces of 16 countries... There were two names that played the biggest role in selling this special phone called ANOM to thousands of gang members around the world: Hakan Ayık and Maximillian Rivkin...

Actually, it all started in 2018. So, essentially, there is a three-year cyber espionage plan... According to sources, the FBI and the Australian police AFP launched a top secret study in 2018 upon information that global drug dealers were communicating with encrypted devices.

At the time, a Canadian company was identified selling Blackberry phones customized for encrypted chat to drug traffickers and organized crime gangs. This company, Phantom Secure, was closed as a result of the operation of the FBI and Canadian police. The process started after that.

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Vincent Ramos, the CEO of the closed company, pleaded guilty during interrogations and in court to conspiring with drug traffickers. He was sentenced to nine years in prison and $80 million in assets were seized. The company was closed, but its employees were now on the FBI's radar.

According to court documents, the FBI offered a job to a senior staff member at the company. This person was sentenced to six years in prison for drug importation. However, when he agreed to cooperate with US authorities, he came under the protection of the FBI. Production of the device called ANOM has also started.

At this point, let's briefly explain ANOM: ANOM was a device with strong encryption. All he did was texting... So there is no call, camera, microphone, e-mail, web browser, GPS, etc. The price of ANOM, which can only be purchased from members of criminal organizations, was 1750 dollars in 2021.

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All applications such as Google, Facebook and Instagram that appeared in the menu were only intended to deceive outside observers. None of them actually worked. The only working application of the device is the calculator-looking application. Correspondence was only possible by entering this application with a password.

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According to sources, the individual, who received a total payment of $180 thousand, worked with the FBI and Australian Federal Police to hide a "decryption key" in the ANOM application. Thus, ANOM users' encrypted messages will be secretly sent to servers controlled by the FBI.

The sales of the devices began to be carried out under the control of the FBI and were sold by hand delivery to criminals in the underworld. During this period, ANOM was sold to both Hakan Ayık and Maximillian Rivkin. Sources say both Ayık and Rivkin are key men for ANOM.

There is also interesting information in the sources; The person identified by Australian police AFP as the most important target to sell ANOM was Hakan Ayık, the leader of the Comanchero gang, who is accused of bringing an estimated $1.5 billion worth of drugs into Australia every year.

The FBI and AFP made a strategic plan. In 2018, 50 ANOM devices were awarded to three trusted vendors in Australia. The plan was that these vendors, who were led to believe that ANOM was the next generation of Phantom Secure, would vouch for the security of the device and begin selling them to organized crime gangs.

By 2021, ANOM had been sold to more than 12 thousand gang members. Ayık and Rivkin played a major role in all of these sales. Because they introduced ANOM to both their own gang members and other organizations they do business with and encouraged them to use it for safe communication.

In fact, according to sources, Maximillian Rivkin was promoting ANOM as if it were his own product. The image he shared on his social media account summarizes the incident. He played a huge role in the spread of ANOM in the underground world. I wonder why he became so possessive? Photo taken in his office;

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Kartal1

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ANOM, which was used only among drug traffickers and organized crime gangs in the USA and Australia in 2018 and 2019, spread in 2021. Ultimately, the data generated from the app was tremendous: 27 million messages from more than 300 organized crime gangs in over 100 countries...

And in June 2021, the button was pressed. FBI, Europol, Australian Police (AFP), US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and law enforcement agencies of 16 countries launched Operation Trojan Shield...

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According to data worldwide; * 800 people were arrested, * 32 TONS of drugs, 250 firearms, 55 luxury cars, more than 150 million dollars in cash were seized.

Thanks to ANOM, which was presented to the underworld as a Trojan Horse, a serious blow was dealt to international organized crime gangs and drug cartels. Some images obtained from ANOM and images of drugs seized as a result of messaging by gang members were also shared;

Two examples; * 613 kilos of cocaine hidden in tuna cans (caught in Belgium) * 1595 kilos of cocaine hidden in hollowed-out pineapples (caught in Spain)

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Other information shared during the operations and included in the sources is about Comanchero leaders Hakan Ayık and Maximillian Rivkin... Months before the Turkish Police's recent Cage Operation, some sources published interesting data about both names.

Last June, the FBI and the US Department of Justice released information that Maximillian Rivkin was wanted and placed a $5 million bounty on his head. Based on the information that he was in Turkey, the brochure was also prepared in Turkish.

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As can be seen, after a three-year cyber espionage operation, major organized crime gangs around the world were brought down. The leaders of Comanchero were captured as a result of the Turkish @EmniyetGM operation. The Australian government speaks highly of the Turkish Police for this operation.

The FBI seems to have destroyed the idea that devices like ANOM and encrypted messaging applications are extremely secure for communication. On the other hand, the FBI's "backdoor installation" and "turning it into a Trojan horse" strategy is worthy of a lesson...

 

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